The Memorial Statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith

34. These statues were originally designed to fit into the “sculpture niches” beside the two doors on the east side of the Temple. The sculpture niches are there because in Biblical times the entrances to the Jerusalem Temple were carefully guarded by the priests. For a number of years, those niches held the statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, but they were removed and placed in the Joseph Smith Memorial Gardens on June 27, 1911.